Bloodlines
by Verona-mira
Summary: She had woken up on the streets. No one remembering her, nothing of her old life left. She hadn't expected to get lucky when the day ended. Only years later, looking back at this day, she would be able to appreciate how lucky she had been.
1. Prologue

AN: Alright, after some thinking I decided to upload my newest story here as well. Mostly because the fandom needs some love and attention and I hope people here will read (and like) it as well.

For people not knowing the game "Cinderella Phenomenon" is a free to play visual novel available on steam among on other places, with gorgeous art and loveable characters and something I highly recommend.

Have fun reading!^_^

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**Prologue**

In the end it all started with a letter. An old letter hidden in an old and unused room in a mostly unused area of the palace. The already yellowish paper had been hidden away in a folder inside a drawer. Lucette hadn't been impressed by the room initially, but she had grown to prefer this one over the other places where she tended to spend her time.

And this room was out of the way. Not even the maids came here to clean it. And if a maid tasked by her father to find her didn't come to get her, then it wasn't because the maid was never sent in the first place, but simply because no one thought about looking here. And maybe, if she told herself that often enough, she may even believe it instead of accepting that the cold feeling coiling inside her was the reaction to the fact that he simply didn't care.

The room wasn't big, but it must have been used at _some _point at least. The curtains were still drawn back from the window and there was a small terrace in front of it. There were seats arranged around a low table, cushioned but dusty. A drawer at the wall with an empty vase on it, a painting above.

It was a portrait she had never seen before, but the woman looked somehow familiar, with dark hair and yellowish eyes just like her own. She hadn't known at the beginning and had spent some time wondering who it was, before she had found the inscription in the frame, labeling her as Helena Britton, wife to Alexander Britton IV, her grandfather on her father's side of the family.

It was the first time she had ever seen a hint of her grandmother in her whole life. She looked young in the picture and Lucette needed to admit that she barely knew anything about the woman outside her name. She had brown hair and the same yellow eyes she had gotten from her own father.

The woman was smiling in the painting, wearing a cream colored dress with tiny flowers stitched along the hems of the different layers. She looked… friendly. And soft. Nothing like her mother ever had. She couldn't have left much of an impression when no one had ever mentioned her to Lucette before now.

But she was still curious about that woman, especially with her own mother gone, the wound still fresh and gaping inside her, the princess was longing for every scrap of distraction from the pain she could grasp.

The room was… empty of any signs of what kind of person she had been, outside of being seemingly quite talented at sewing and stitching from what the girl could gather from the material in the drawer. It was a talent she hadn't expected to share with the unknown woman. Her own mother had after all told her that sewing was unbecoming for a princess.

And then Lucette had found the letters.

She had simply put them aside when she had found them, not noticing what was inside the folder until she had been about to put it back.

The initial uncomfortable feeling she had felt about reading them had faded as well. The woman was long dead, and whatever was written in there had most likely lost importance long ago.

And so she had taken the folder one day and moved over to the window where the sun was shining into the room, starting to decipher the faded ink. It only took the greeting to realize that the letter was _to_ her grandmother and not written by her.

_Dear Helena, _

_How are you doing? It has been some time since your last letter reached me and I was very happy to hear that you managed to conceive. I hope everything is going well. If there is any kind of problem, just send for me and I'll come as fast as I can. Atreus __will__ help and teleport me. Especially if it is about another descendant of some kind, even when he can't stand Alexander. You know this isn't about you. _

_Aion is eight already and getting into trouble left and right. I started him up on his healing lessons and it is reining him in at least a bit. He was always curious about it since the first time I brought him to the village with me and he saw me using it. _

_And when he does get a bit much, Richard and Atreus are always happy to take him for a few hours. Father is finally getting better. Losing Arianna to that accident had really brought him down and it is good to see him recovering. I don't know what he was like after losing his first wife, but from what I heard from Jack it was pretty bad. _

_Is your father still teasing you about how you got to know your husband? It sounded like a story he would never stop telling, simply to embarrass you. Richard is still laughing every time someone hints at it and Aion recently asked how someone can end up that drunk in the first place. I guess it is good that out here there is no risk for him to run into his uncle. But then a good curse may put a few things straight in that guys head. _

_I admit, I am not missing court at all. It was tedious, even with Richard around. I guess, we got lucky that Alexander was so eager to move up in the line of succession. Is he already regretting it? Did he already notice how different it is from what he may have thought it was? _

_Well, I am far away from it and not regretting it at all. And with us so far away from the capital, no one can say that we're trying to undermine his authority in any kind of way. Your husband is either quite paranoid or his advisers are. Whack him over the head please, if he starts acting stupid. Males need that at times. Richard gets tunnel vision often enough. _

_Aion and Richard both miss you and wish you well. _

_And just remember: If you have enough from the whispers and gossip and the corsets chaining your soul, father can always make space for you here. He is your grandfather as well after all. _

_In love and wishing your well for your proceeding pregnancy, _

_Your aunt Mýrún _

Aunt… she had other relatives? Outside her father and mother? She had never thought about that before. Her mother had always been there and she had never needed anyone else.

But now she wasn't, hadn't been for three months and there was this gaping hole inside her yearning for parental affection again. But her father was barely acknowledging her existence to begin with, had barely talked to her during the last months since mother died.

Carefully she followed the loop of the signature on the paper with a finger tip.

Who else was there? This Mýrún had mentioned her father, who was her grandmother's grandfather, making him her own great-great-grandfather. But was the man even alive now? The letter was written before her father was an adult at least. But he wasn't even mentioned there.

Lucette read the letter again, eyes stopping at a phrase. 'But then a good curse may put a few things straight in that guys head' the woman had written. But only witches could curse.

There were witches in her family tree? Was that why mother had kept her away from father? But mother had hated the fairy tales picturing witches like that.

Thoughts running in her head, she carefully put the letter back away into the drawer and left the room. She… needed to think about that. And do some research. Her grandfather -the prior king- was named Alexander, but she had never heard of any siblings… The royal archives should have something about that. The spouses of the ruling royalty always got thoroughly recorded down to specify the family tree.

She just… She needed some time to sort everything out.


	2. Chapter 01 - At The End Of The Day

**Chapter 01****\- At The End Of The Day**

"You! Leave the girl alone, right now!"

Initially, Lucette hadn't been sure who was more surprised. She or the men, who had been trying to grab her. The woman storming down the street, wearing all black and yellow eyes almost glowing in the darkness had also been nothing she had expected.

"Something, you want to get involved in, hag?" one of the males sneered and golden eyes tightened. The next moment there was a yelp of pain and the main stumbled away, holding his stomach, where the woman had prodded him with her umbrella. "Some manners would do you some good, brute!" she replied coldly, approaching them without breaking her stride, poking the umbrella into their direction, making them stumble backward, most likely more out of surprise than genuine fear. "Shoo," the woman sneered at them, "I am sure, you have other things to do than harassing young girls."

"Listen here, hag- ow!" the man recoiled, having gotten hit over the head with the umbrella. "Language!" the woman scolded him with a strict expression, "And I saw enough of what was going on, to guess what you two just tried! So, shoo! Shoo!"

There was something surreal about watching the woman prodding her umbrella at the two men, scolding them about their behavior and manners and not stopping until both of them were on the run away from her. From the hits they were most likely going to have some impressive bruises in the morning.

There was a vicious feeling of satisfaction blooming inside her for a moment, watching the men scrambling away from them. "I-" she stopped to think over what she was about to say. "Thank you." After the day she had just suffered through that bout of help had been… appreciated. If she had the possibility, she would have curled up in her bedroom and tried to forget that this day had every happened.

She hadn't expected to still feel the stab of pain when her father had genuinely not recognized her. They hadn't talked much before, but he had at least known her name.

The woman gave her a testing look and then nodded to herself. "Alright girl, come on. Shelter is still a bit away and I don't want to be around, if these guys decide to come back with friends."

"What-?" Lucette found herself sputtering while the woman started herding her along. "Why would you do that!?" The woman frowned at her. "For one, I didn't drive these thugs off, just to leave you alone out here. And I have _eyes_. You're too well fed and clean to be a street waif. You aren't used to not wearing shoes. And that necklace is nothing a street girl would wear. It would have been long sold. And don't even let me start on your posture and general behavior. You're clearly educated. As such there must at least be a good reason for you to be on the streets like that," she said and the princess found herself blinking in surprise, before nodding slowly.

That was… reasonable at least. And it would definitely beat staying out on the streets during the night. "And now come. Before they remember that men tend to be physically stronger than women and that there were two of them. And you are in no state to fight."

For a moment Lucette mourned her knife, which was most likely still hidden in her bedroom. It would have been pretty useful, if it had come down to it. Not that anyone knew that she possessed it.

Making sure to not step on any sharp edged stones, she started following the woman through the streets. Her guide didn't comment on her slower pace, leading her through the streets and alleys. After some time they had left the center of the city behind. Crowded buildings lining the streets made way for houses with backyards, gardens, surrounded by hedges and fences, both high and low.

The dark clothed woman stopped in front of the garden gate, opened it quietly and soon they were seated at a kitchen table and Lucette found herself looking around curiously. The house was bigger than she had expected, with more than one floor and a garden. The house front was facing the street, the garden wall merging with it.

Being inside after a whole day outside was welcome. She hadn't even noticed how cold she had gotten during the day, the cold seeping into her bare arms and feet, especially after the sun started dropping.

Smooth wooden floors, plants in pots, a few carpets, paintings and other small decorations turned it into a tasteful environment.

"Just sit down over there," the woman gestured at the kitchen table, "I'll make some tea and then you can explain what happened that you ended up that situation. Call me Helena, girl."

Lucette didn't know what exactly was happening, but resting in a chair, nursing a cup of tea, away from people sneering and laughing at her and the warmth slowly returning to her body...

"My full name is Lucette Riella Britton," she finally said, "And one of my dolls turned out to be a witch in disguise."

"Britton, like the royal bloodline?" Lucette nodded at the question. "The late queen Hildyr was my mother."

Yellow eyes looked her over and Lucette wondered for a moment how common this shade of color was. Her father had it, she had it herself, Fritz and Alcaster had it as well. Mythros also had darker shade and now that woman also possessed it.

But she had never seen it on anyone else. And she couldn't help it, but she was sure, she had seen the woman before somewhere.

"Well, you at least have the look for it, girl. The necklace is from the curse then?"

She pulled up the necklace and looked at the pendant. "I would say so. It appeared when Delora cast the curse."

"Delora? Long black hair, red eyes?" Helena frowned.

"Wears a purple, black, white dress?" Lucette shot back, "I got the doll half a year ago to my birthday."

"Stupid women! First they don't do anything for four years and then they scramble around when time runs out!" her host snarled all of sudden.

"You know her?" Lucette got out surprised.

"I know _of_ her. And the company she keeps. And the date fits her disappearing from them," Helena sighed, "There is another reason why I believe you, but I'll explain that one at… a later time. It's too late for this kind of talk anyway."

Lucette nodded slowly, taking another sip from her tea, glancing around in the house. Everything was tidy, clean and well taken care of.

"I live alone, but there is an empty room with a guest bed, where you can sleep," Helena finally said, "Stay put here for a moment. I should have something else for you to wear. That dress may be useful as kitchen rags at most."

Half an hour later after a basic clean up and wearing a nightgown, Lucette sat down on the bed with a comb and started sorting her hair out.

Combing the knots out, she looked around the room. It wasn't a big room, but clean. Something that also applied to the bed. A lot smaller than her own bed, but welcoming soft after the disastrously exhausting day.

When she finally laid down, she was out like a light within moments.

-oOo-

Lucette woke up when there was something soft tickling her face.

Half asleep she tried to brush away the hair that had escaped her braid and frowned when her hand found something warm with... fur?

Confused she opened her eyes and found herself looking at blue eyes in a dark, furry face with triangular ears.

The cat meowed at her and pushed its head into her hand. Carefully she slightly dug her fingers into the fluffy fur. And flinched in surprise when another cat jumped onto the bed as well, pouncing the first one.

A bundle of squirming, furry limbs hit the floor, parted and both shot out of the ajar door, racing each other.

Dumbfounded the princess looked after them for a few moments, before looking around. The curtains of the window were open and weak sunlight was streaming into the room already.

Over the chair at the small table at the side of the room hung another piece of clothing, which turned out to be a simple white dress falling just over her knees.

She looked around the unfamiliar room another time and then stepped through the door into the hallway.

The house was quiet. After years of the busy hallways of the palace, it felt disconcerting. She was used to hearing the noise of people hurrying around outside her room. There was no sign of the cats.

Slowly she stepped down the staircase to the lower level and glanced into the kitchen. The door into the garden was ajar and a glance out the window showed the cats strolling through the garden, between flowers and bushes.

There was no sign of Helena anywhere.

In the living room there was something colourful catching her eye and she stepped closer to the low table between the sofas in front of the fireplace.

A closer look revealed it to be a collection of colourful yarn bundles, a needle pillow and a piece of fabric with a few flowers already stitched onto it.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she picked it up to inspect the embroidery more closely.

"On, you're awake earlier than I assumed you would be," a voice suddenly came from behind her, startling her.

Carefully she put the fabric back down and turned around. "Good morning," she replied calmly. Upsetting her host would be stupid. "The cats woke me."

Helena sighed, putting the fresh flowers she was holding into a vase. "Velvet and Rose are dears, but noisy menaces. They were most likely curious about the stranger in their home."

As if knowing she was talking about them, both cats strolled inside and twirled around Helena's legs. Smiling the woman bend down to scratch them.

Lucette eyed the interaction curiously. There had never been any pets in the palace and the only animals she had ever interacted with were the horses during her riding lessons.

Helena straightened up again and then looked her over with a smile. "Ah good. I wasn't sure how well this one would fit you."

"It's alright," she replied. A lot better than the rag dress in any case.

"Good. That was the only one I had available in that size and my things wouldn't fit you that well."

"You have dresses in different sizes lying around?" Lucette raised a brow in surprise.

"Oh, sometimes I take work home with me," Helena explained, "But the customer didn't come to the store to specify the decorations she wanted, so I left it here."

"So, you're... a seamstress?" Lucette found herself asking and glanced back to the embroidery.

"Yes," Helena nodded, "I have a store near the plaza where I work during most days of the week. You were looking at the patterns when I came in. Do you like them?"

"They... look well made," she said, picking the fabric back up to inspect them, "I like the lilies. I prefer white ones, but the red ones are also pretty."

"Thank you," the woman gave her a small smile, "Do you sew yourself?"

Lucette stilled. It had been some time since she had done anything like that. Her mother had taken her handicrafts away at some point, saying it wasn't worthy of her time. And while she had pondered filling the time she had formerly spent with her mother with other things, sewing or embroidery had never turned up among the possibilities, the daughter unwilling to disobey her dead mother.

"I did," she finally said, "I made dresses for my dolls. Mother said, I was wasting my time."

She had liked sewing new dresses for her dolls. But her mother's orders had been absolute.

Helena was quiet for a moment, straightening a few strands of yarn that had fallen into disarray when Lucette had dropped the fabric on them in surprise.

"That's... surprising. I never heard anything about that before. To receive something handmade from a princess is supposed to be a great honor and a possible sign of favour without any outrageous actions being connected with it," the woman shook her head in confusion, "You were self-taught, then?"

There was a short pause, "Not completely. A nanny showed me at first," she finally said. It was strange how she couldn't remember the woman in question. She could still remember the feeling of soft fabric under her hands and pricking her fingers at the beginning. But not the face or name or voice.

"Always a good way to start," Helena nodded calmly, "Letting you stay for free may be a bit too generous, I admit. And I know quite well what young people with nothing to do may come up with. But if you're willing to help me with a few things at the store..."

Lucette frowned. "What exactly?"

"I make most money sewing clothes. But there are always some people wanting a quick repair of a loose button or replacing all buttons. And while custom ordered embroidered decorations would sell well, I don't have the time to do it myself," the woman explained.

That... didn't sound too bad. She had liked sewing when she had been able to do it. And it wouldn't be a waste of her time, because it would keep her host happy, but...

"I haven't sewn in years," she pointed out, "My skills there may be... unfitting."

"A button is easy to attach," Helena waved off, "And about the embroidery, I'll give you a test piece you can practice on and then we'll see."

-oOo-

She was wearing her hair down and it felt strange. There was no hair band around to hold her hair together. Lucette may be able to make one down the line, but not at the moment.

Leaning back in the sofa, she looked around the room again. Everything still looked the same, the only difference was that Helena had left to handle her store. Light was falling through the windows and fresh flowers were spreading a sweet smell from their vase. The cats were lazing around in sunny spots on the floor.

This day marked the end of the first week she was spending at the house and she found herself getting used to it already.

Even without her dolls to talk to she wasn't alone. If she felt like it, she could simply take the rod with the feather bundle and twitch it in front of a cat. And when the cat was played tired it would come to cuddle, so loneliness wasn't a problem anymore for a while.

Carefully she traced the embroidered flower growing on the fabric with a fingertip. She hadn't noticed how much she had missed working like this. She remembered spending hours upon hours thinking up dresses for her dolls and trying to make them. It had bridged the hours her mother hadn't been around and no one had been there to keep her company after the last nanny had been fired.

The only thing really bothering her -with the absence of whispers and glances thrown her way- was the scratching in her throat and even that was lessening by the day.

She wouldn't have been surprised about getting sick after the day on the streets like that, the slight fever she had developed by evening the day after had been expected. Helena had noticed it quickly through, despite her not saying anything and had decided to let her stay at home to practice her skills instead of taking her to the store with her.

The woman wasn't like anyone Lucette had ever known. Her tutors had always been strict, but polite, liking their position enough to not risk it with bad behavior. Her stepsister was irritatingly friendly. Her stepbrother blissfully distant and keeping away from her. Fritz was friendly, but also duty bound. The king was... distant at best. Ophelia simply someone, who was there, but didn't seem to possess a spine, with how easily she gave up on confrontations.

The maids and other servants weren't worth mentioning.

Helena was... different. While she did remind Lucette of Ophelia, the woman could be a lot more forceful than she had ever seen her stepmother be. She really couldn't see that woman prodding an umbrella at offending men.

There was strictness in her demands, proven when she had ordered Lucette to bed when the fever appeared. And patient instructions when the memories of needle and thread had still been far away.

Lucette looked back at the flower on the fabric. With nothing else to do during the day, her skills had started to improve steadily. There were no lessons to attend, to people to hide from, no whispers she needed to listen to. It was… quiet and calm and surprisingly relaxing.

She looked at the cats, which she still couldn't tell apart. They looked exactly the same to her. Both had the same cream-colored long fur with dark paws, tail, face and ear. And both could end up curling up on your lap, demanding attention at the same time. But at the moment they were both happy in their sunny spots, tails and ears twitching on occasion.

Absently letting her fingers keep running over the fabric and feeling the pattern, she tried to think about what was going to happen soon. Helena had mentioned that she planned to take her into town soon when she wasn't sick anymore. For one, to show her how to orientate herself in town and how to not get lost and to show her where the store was.

She didn't like the idea much. But Helena had also taken her in and it… wasn't unreasonable. And with people no longer remembering her there should be way less glares and stares going around.

The thought of the curse made her more conscious about the necklace around her neck, single glass slipper hanging on it and seemingly mocking her.

Cinderella was the only fairytale known where glass slippers were prominent in. And in the original tale a girl of good standing had gotten turned into a kitchen maid and later managed to go to a ball with magical help and got chosen by the prince to be his bride, the stepsisters getting their eyes hacked out by birds during the wedding.

Helena had admitted that such an outcome was unlikely from what she knew about Delora and company. If it came down to it, she also knew where this company was housed, but Lucette was unwilling to search the witch out that had cursed her. She really didn't want to deal with the woman yet. Or ever again if possible.

As it was, she wasn't even sure what she felt about this situation. Sure, she wasn't on the streets and she wouldn't be housed for free as soon as Helena deemed her skills well enough and she was healthy, but...

She couldn't help it, but she felt like she had seen the woman before somewhere. It was a strange feeling, she couldn't shake off either, but no matter how long she thought about it, she simply couldn't pinpoint _where!_

It was frustrating.

And thinking was the only thing she could do about it, because there wasn't anything else, she could do while staying here. Also, she wasn't sure how she should ask the woman about it. She didn't want to tip her hand about that. No matter how nice the woman was, she barely knew her.

Why had she been taken in like that? At the first evening Helena had mentioned another reason why she believed Lucette's story, but had never brought it up again either.

After having a few days to calm down about the situation and time to think the thoughts were at the front of her mind again and persistent.

_Why was that woman helping her? Why did she believe her? Why did she look familiar? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?_

And if she believed everything just like that, then why wasn't she looking at Lucette with the same disdain, fear or hate like all the others had?

She could ask, but she didn't want to risk the hospitality. Helena had been... nice. And Lucette knew at least so much about people that doubting their intentions may upset them. Because you showed distrust in the first place or because you looked through their plans, proving them less sneaky than they thought themselves to be.

Which of the two would Helena be?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cat pouncing onto her lap and snuggling up to her, pushing its up head up under her piece of fabric to give her a wide-eyed look and meowed, looking utterly innocent of any wrong-doing.

There was a strange feeling of warmth rising up inside her as she put the fabric on the table beside the sofa and started running her fingers through the soft fur, getting rewarded by a deep rumbling purr, the cat starting to knead its paws into her stomach at the same time.

"You don't have any worries, hm?" She said quietly, "You just want attention and food and a warm and safe place to sleep." A lot of less worries than she had right now, the most pressuring one being what would happen if she didn't manage to break her curse, the sooner the better. She had stepsiblings now, which would have moved up in the line of succession with her not being remembered.

And at some point, it may not matter anymore that she had been crown princess at some point. What then?

It was a fear she barely dared to think.

If everything was taken like that, taken _easily_ like that… what was left? People hadn't liked her, had openly wanted Emelaigne as crown princess instead. What would happen when people remembered and notices how easy it was to achieve that? Delora couldn't have been the only witch around...

The possibility of breaking the curse, gaining everything, just to lose it again was also frightening, a fear buried deep into her mind.

How would the king even react to remember his own child? Would he even remember they had met at the gate?

The cat on her lap squirmed a bit. before calming back down

She eyed the animal for a few moments, fingers steadily parting the fur. The other cat jumping onto the armrest startled her, making her jerk around to look at the cat.

Petting stopped and bliss disrupted by the movement, both cats ended up looking at her, eyeing her from blue eyes.

The next moment there were squabbling furry bodies on her lap and both cats settled down there.

Watching the bodies slightly move with every breath and feeling the warmth slowly seeping through her dress were the cats were snuggled up against her was strangely comforting, just like the furry head pushing itself into her hand when she carefully combed through the fur between the ears.

If she had known having cats was that... relaxing, she would have demanded one years ago.

No matter her father's opinion on that!

-oOo-

It was a sunny morning, when Helena took out a handbag from somewhere and showed her how to properly store the handicrafts supplies in it.

Lucette could guess what was going to happen the moment the bag was taken out and could feel her mood dropping with it fast. If Helena noticed, she didn't comment on it, instead letting her pack everything herself, so she would remember it better how it was done.

She did leave while Lucette was busy though and returned with shoes fitting Lucette. Soon after she was steering the girl out of the door.

"Don't be like that," Helena said with an amused expression, "Is being outside really that bad?" Lucette frowned and glanced around, taking in the crowd around her, while making sure to not get parted from the other woman.

People barely seemed to take notice of her, passing her by without even looking her way. No glares, no fear, no recognition. "I guess it could be worse," she finally said, turning her eyes ahead again, "I guess the curse keeps them from despising my existence."

For a few moments Helena wasn't saying anything, instead leading her along quietly, guiding her through the streets and pointing out street names to her. "Were you ever in town alone?"

"The king took me out of the palace with him shortly after mother died. Otherwise just once. Recently. His majesty insisted that I accompanied my stepsiblings on the ventures once. I guess the situation fell under… not going well."

The woman let out a sigh and nodded slowly. "I can only imagine. People tend to have an easier time remembering things they dislike than things they like. To better avoid situations they dislike, I guess." There was another bout of uncomfortable silence, despite the noise of the city.

For some reason Lucette wanted to add that she didn't even know _why_ people disliked her so much, when she had only been in town two times. Not everyone was working in the palace or knew people working there.

But did it even matter?

Lucette looked around again. She remembered how much she had disliked being in town. Now it was outright surreal. Not because she was here again. Not because no one noticed her. It was than before because the reactions of fear and anger were missing. Less real, less clear, less… memorable.

It made the other two visits even sharper in her mind.

"Oh, don't look like that," Helena chided gently, "You would be much prettier if you would stop frowning so much, you know? Come on, we're almost at the store and there we can see, if there is something that fits you better. This one is a bit short for you."

Well, that wasn't an incorrect statement. Lucette fought back the urge to glance down at the seam of the dress, which was barely reaching her knees. It was also a bit tighter than was comfortable around the chess, something she hadn't really noticed during the last days, mostly preoccupied with her own thoughts. But after walking around, it was much more noticeable and… made her feel awkward.

The store itself wasn't big but professional. "I work mostly on commissions and tend to have patterns ready for presentations," Helena explained, opening a cupboard and pulled a dark green dress out, frowned at it and then put it back inside. This repeated a few more times until she pulled out a dark blue dress, held it up and then nodded.

"A bit too long, but that is the smallest problem," she said, motioning the girl to come closer and held the dress up against her body. The fabric was soft, with an even weave and colour. A bow in the same colour was bound around the waist and there was a corset like structure worked into the upper part of the dress.

It was all in all a pretty simple dress, looking more like something Emelaigne would wear than herself, outside of the darker colour. But it was also way longer than the dress she was currently wearing and she really wanted to wear something longer.

And as it turned out it _did _fit a lot better than the first dress. But as it was, she still needed to be patient for a bit longer, as Helena used the opportunity to show her how to shorten a skirt.

"Customers won't come that early. They either go to work at this time or do the most pressing housework. Sometimes people bring something over on the way to work, but that is really rare," the woman explained, marking down where to shorten the fabric, "So during the morning I tend to work on commissions or check on the stock. That is something where you can easily help me with."

A bit later Lucette was first parting the fabric carefully after Helena had shown her how (a lot faster, but she had pressed the point that it was a matter of practice and experience and Lucette didn't want to damage the remaining fabric), while the woman was laying out different papers and set to work on a dress already on a mannequin.

They both didn't talk during their work. Lucette hadn't talked much before and didn't plan to change that any time soon. And the work was taking up her focus as it was. It was most likely habit for Helena. The silence wasn't uncomfortable either and Lucette found herself somewhat enjoying what she was doing. There was no one bothering her and the work was something she liked, even if she wasn't sewing for her dolls and the fabric was much better than the scraps she had used as a child.

Soon she was shown how to fold the seam around and sew it up so it wouldn't unravel.

Mood improved enough by the new dress, she let herself be ordered to check the different fabric stocks, as a few customers came in and made small talk with Helena, some eyeing her curiously, others not even taking notice of her. There were a lot more customers than Lucette had assumed there would be and during a small break in business the woman sat her down near a table with a stack of clothes with 'easy jobs' and showed her how to do them properly.

It was a bit after noon, when Helena closed the shop and motioned her away from her work. "Come on, I always have a small break around this time," she smiled, "The market is close by and you can look for a small lunch there."

It was a lot more crowded outside now. Lucette hated it.

Moving past stands offering different knickknacks she found herself concentrating more on dodging people and making sure to keep an eye on which way she came from. She still had the money the king had given her and she found herself frowning at the different prices, calculating how much it was in comparison to what she had.

He had been… generous.

But that was no reason to waste anything or to be rash about buying something.

In the end she ended up chewing on a small cream danish pastry from a street stand, whose smell had been too luring to resist in combination with her empty stomach.

Standing a bit away from the crowd, she ate her food and watched the crowded a bit, more bored than anything else, caught up in her own thoughts again.

How was that her life now? Spending her time working in a shop instead of her bedroom, paying attention to her dolls or in lessons with her tutors… how long would that go on? How long would it last? How long would it be until it wouldn't matter anymore who she had once been, even if people remembered her?

"Found you!" The sudden exclamation startled her out of her thoughts and she found herself looking down at a boy familiar to her, who was smiling while approaching her. It was the street performer she had seen during the town outing with her stepsiblings.

"And?" she replied, unimpressed.

"Well, I was looking for you," the boy said, "Some people were worried when we couldn't find you."

Her frown deepened. 'We'? "And who would this 'we' be? And how can you be so sure that I am who you are looking for?" she said, watching how his smile faded a bit.

"Well… I am also cursed. I am staying at an inn owned by a fairy, who tries to help people with their curses," he started explaining quickly, "And people who got cursed, fairies and witches haven't forgotten who you are."

"And I am supposed to blindly believe what you're saying," she concluded coolly. There were exceptions to the whole forgetting her thing?

Hadn't Helena mentioned another reason why she believed her story? It had never come up again after the first evening, when the woman had taken her in.

The smile faded slowly from the boy's face. "Well… I guess I can't prove it right here…" he started quietly, "But if you're willing to… follow me?"

Really? Did he really think her that stupid? "No, I won't simply follow you like that" she shot the offer down and started moving towards the crowd. If she had so much trouble keeping an eye on her surroundings there, it should be possible to lose him in there as well.

"But we were really worried! Parfait was driving herself crazy and even if Delora didn't say it-!"

She froze for the shortest moment and then levelled a death glare at the boy, who flinched at being on the receiving end of it. "Shut up!" she forced herself to not hiss at him, feeling cold fury boiling inside her, "I. Have literally no wish to be anywhere near the witch that cursed me. No reason to believe a single word of hers as truth. And not a single bit of patience left to listen to your tries to explain everything and trying to assure me that she 'didn't mean it like that'. Because from what I saw cursing me wasn't exactly an accident on her part. So, save your breath and leave. Me. Alone. And you can tell your fairy-innkeeper the same as she is collaborating with the witch in question."

Not giving him the time to reply, she slipped her way into the crowd, dodging people in the process and forced herself to not move directly to the store, in case he _did_ manage to track her through the crowd a bit.

Back in the store, Helena raised a brow at her, but didn't comment on her sudden change in mood, not even asking a probing question, instead letting her work in silence, as she took care of her own part of work.

The remaining day was quiet and ordinary and when they left in the evening, the streets were empty and there was no sign of the boy.

Laying in her bed in the evening, Lucette wondered, why she hadn't asked Helena about the reason, why the woman believed her yet. Thoughts circling in her head, sleep was difficult to come by. And as it came, it was restless, with dreams she couldn't remember when she awoke in the morning, as Velvet and Rose pounced on her.


End file.
